For May. 1922 



147 



Lindenhurst, the estate of Air. John ^^'ananlaker, whose 

 capable superintendent, Mr. John H. Dodds, is authority 

 for much that is contained in this article, the hardiest of 

 all has been found to lie one not in Mr. Wilson's list, 

 namely Kettledrum. In addition to this one the book. 

 The Complete Garden, names eleven others as hardy in 

 northern Ohio. 



Such then are the present limitalion^ to increasing the 

 variety of broad-leaved evergreen rhodendrons in our 

 gardens. 



Of evergreen rhododendrons with small or compara- 

 tively small leaves, to quote Mr. Wilson again, "only a 

 limited number have proved to be hardy and amenable 

 to cultivation in this country. Many of them may be 

 rooted from cuttings : but it has been found difficult to 

 hybridize them with members of other groups. As a 

 garden plant for this country R. earoliniainun is by far 

 the best species of this group and is one of the very finest 

 of all broad-leaved evergreens hardy in Massachusetts. 

 R. tniniis. better known as R. punctafiiin, which grows 

 in the same region but at a lower level, is an old denizen 

 of gardens : it has smaller leaves and tlowers and a nn ire 

 open habit than R. carolinianinn:" 



In northern ( ieorgia is a form of it (variety liarbisonii ) 

 with larger leaves and flowers in larger clusters, which 

 may be expected to make a handsome garden plant. Ac- 

 cording to a recent bulletin of the Arnold Arboretum it 

 is not yet in cultivation. 



"The two dwarf rhododendrons R. ferntgineuiii and 

 R. hivsHtiim, natives of the mountains of central Europe,'" 

 Mr. Wilson goes on to state, "are unsatisfactory in New 

 England ; but three hybrids between them and the 

 R. uiiiius are valuable garden plants in this climate. One 

 of these hybrids, R. myrtifolinm, is a very compact 

 round-topped shrub, from two to four feet in height, and 

 as much through, with neat foliage and small pretty pink 

 flowers. Another, R. arbutifoliuui. is a shrub of open 

 spreading habit and forms low wide masses. The chief 

 value of the plant is in its ability to cover either sunny 

 or shady banks and for this it is admirably adapted. The 

 third hybrid is known in gardens as R. i^'ilsonl. It also 

 spreads over sunny and shady banks which it covers in 

 June with beautiful lavender blooms. From the cold re- 

 gions of Manchuria and Korea come R. dahuriciim and 

 R. mucronidatnm, which have deciduous leaves. Other 

 early-flowering rhodendrons are R. prcvco.r and its variety 

 Early Gem. Both are evergreen bushes, much branched 

 in habit and have pale to deep pink fiowers. In favor- 

 able seasons, when the flowers escape the late frosts, these 

 plants are very beautiful in Spring ; but unfortunately 

 this rarely happens. 



"A'aluable for the rockery and partial to sunshine are 

 R. raeeniusum, R. davidum and R. i>itricattim, three new 

 comers from China. They are twiggy plants, growing 

 from four to six feet high, and may be rooted from cut- 

 tings. These species are very floriferous Alpine plants, 

 with small leaves and of neat and charming habit. 



"The only other species of this group that need be 

 mentioned is R. luicraiithiiiii. also from China, which has 

 clusters of minute Ledum-like white flowers and small 

 leaves." Jiut according to a recent bulletin of the Arnold 

 .\rl)oretum the Japanese hrachycarpiim is stiperior. The 

 original plant of it, presented to the .\rboretum by Mr. 

 Francis Parkman, was lost in transplanting ; but Mr. Wil- 

 son has sent large quantities of seed from Japan and soon 

 its large pale pink or pale straw-colored flowers may 

 become common here." 



The usefulness and the charms of even these species 

 as garden plants are not yet sufficiently appreciated by 

 us. Our English cousins are more fortunate. A writer 

 in a recent number of The Gardeners' Chronicle in 

 fact exclaims that if his choice were confined to six 

 varieties of the rhododendron they would be none of the 

 popular hybrids, but (1) the pale yellow campylocarpmn, 

 (2) the best lavender-blue form of augustinii. (3) the 

 brilliant scarlet iieriidorum, (4) roylei or cinnabariniim, 

 { 5 ) the lovely pink seven-lobed fargesii and (6) Thomp- 

 sonii with its wa.xy crimson bells. These are worth 

 recording here because, although they are not hardy in a 

 climate like ours it is possible that from them may be 

 developed hybrids to which may be imparted some of the 

 ruggedness of constitution possessed by American natives 

 with which they may be crossed. They are undoubtedly 

 adapted, according to Professor Sargent of the Arbore- 

 tum, to our Puget Sotind region. There we may ex- 

 pect to find established in time examples of the widest 

 range in variation of size, form, habit and color. There 

 are some that are tall and tree-like, other that are 

 epiphytic and some, like R. prostratiiin, that are carpet 

 plants. 



To widen the range even in our vicinity, one may enter 

 among the azaleas, which are now regarded as merely a 

 section of the rhododendron genus, and among which two 

 species, canadense and vaseyi, both good garden plants, 

 thrive best in a rather moist soil and in the neighborhood 

 of open water. The former is the well known dwarf 

 shrub that from Newfoundland to Pennsylvania and New 

 Jersey covers large areas of swampy land with a sheet 

 of rose-purple bloom, while the latter, also dwarf and of 

 a more open habit, has pure pink flowers of perfect tint. 



To a dift'erent section of the azaleoid rhododendrons 

 belong thirteen species of which eight are native to the 



Rhododendron ccitaivbicnsc growing ■n'ild at 5,U0Q /rrf elevation, n'cstcrn \orlh Carolina. 



(Courtesy of Harlan P. Kelsey) 



